Into the Storm Review

Jon Pardew Movie Review: 5/10

Rotten Tomatoes: Nothing Yet

Rated: PG-13
Sexual Content: 2/10
Violence: 7/10
Profanity: 5/10
Drugs/Alcohol: 3/10

Into the Storm is about the devastation of major tornadoes.  Storms start hitting in a small town and you follow a father and two sons, a storm chasing crew, and two outlandish back-country red-necks.  You see how each person deals with the storm as lives are threatened and the super storm lays waste to everything in its path.

Story: 2/10

You would not want to go to this movie if you are expecting to see a great story.  It has its moments where characters demonstrate bravery eluding to some character development but that is overshadowed by the giant tornadoes and VFX.   Also, the eye of the tornado is not the only hole in this story.  There are more than a few things that didn't connect and it will take you right out of the movie if you are paying attention.

Acting: 3/10

Into the Storm's actors consist of people you may not heard of besides Richard Armitage (aka Thorin Oakenshield) who plays the father.  Perhaps because most of the actors are relatively new to Hollywood, their performances seemed rather amateur.  Most of the time I didn't feel like any of them were in any real danger even when giant tornadoes were sucking people into them.  I did enjoy the red-necks performances.  They brought the element of humor to the movie in a good way.

Cinema Photography: 4/10

The movie starts by being filmed by home video cameras, sort of in the style of Cloverfield or Earth to Echo as if it is going to be a 'found footage' type movie.  The problem with Into the Storm is that it was not consistent.  Most of the time you are seeing what the characters are filming and it brings more intense emotions because it seems more real.  Then there is a sequence of footage that blatantly is not filmed by any of the characters and it immediately reduces the intensity and made it feel messy. 

Visual FX: 8/10

The VFX are the best part of Into the Storm. Although not groundbreaking, the tornadoes did look spectacular and scary.  One tornado catches on fire which is something I have never seen before and so it was new and looked impressive.  The destruction and debris flying around looked intense, probably the closest it looks to experiencing a real tornado.   

Written by: Jon Pardew